Cardinals beat Pirates 4-3 in 14 innings

Andrew McCutchen, Jordy Mercer hit home runs in loss

UPDATED 8:23 AM EDT Aug 14, 2013

ST. LOUIS -

The Pittsburgh Pirates were oh so close to ending a three-game losing streak and building on their NL Central lead.

About two hours after left fielder Starling Marte dropped a routine fly ball and put the St. Louis Cardinals in position to force extra innings, they had all but emptied their bench in vain in a 4-3, 14-inning loss Tuesday night that kept them skidding.

Trying his best to lessen the blow for Marte, manager Clint Hurdle acknowledged the outfielder was "probably not in a good place right now," but pointed out that the Pirates had plenty of other chances.

"It's not like he wanted to drop the ball," Hurdle said. "We got nicked for a run, we had to play five more after that. At the end we weren't able to push another run across after the second."

Adron Chambers singled home the winning run, and Sam Freeman (1-0) allowed a walk in an inning for the Cardinals, who saddled the Pirates with their fourth straight loss and pulled within two games of them with a win in the 4-hour, 55-minute game.

Pittsburgh had four hits the first time through the order against Adam Wainwright and led 3-0 after two innings on homers by Andrew McCutchen and Jordy Mercer. They had six hits the rest of the way.

Jon Jay singled off Jared Hughes (2-3) with one out in the 14th with his fourth hit. Jay stole second and then raced home and beat left fielder Marte's throw.

The Cardinals forced extra innings and gave Mark Melancon a blown save, aided by Marte, who dropped Daniel Descalso's routine fly ball for a two-base error with one out in the ninth. Descalso scored the tying run on Allen Craig's single.

Andrew Lambo was 0-3 with a pair of groundouts and a strikeout in his major league debut for the Pirates. He got the start after Jose Tabata was scratched with flu-like symptoms. Lambo has hit 31 homers at Double-A and Triple-A this year, tied for the most in the minors.

Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.